Thursday, September 27, 2012

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Ash Review

When I cut my hair short a few weeks ago, it sparked the beginning of my obsession with my eyebrows. Not that I didn't care about their existence before but somehow with my hair being quite shorter, my brows seemed to take much more precedence on my face. I tried going back to a few of the eyebrow powders and pens I had but I hadn't found the perfect shade. The dark browns seemed much too warm and red and I tried with a charcoal grey but it was much too cool toned.
Enter the Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Ash, my current favorite for a natural but oomphed brow look. I think this color is the best for my Asian NC30 skintone.

Click through to read my thoughts on the Brow Wiz and before/after application pictures!Anastasia is the cream of the crop when it comes to brow products so I had high expectations for the product. I'll admit though, I wasn't sure if the color was going to suit me at first. I was sent this product and while I was waiting impatiently for it in the mail, I noticed that Medium Ash is suggested for those with "light to medium brown and silver hair", either of which I very much don't have.
When I tried it though, I was pleasantly surprised at how it suited my eyebrows quite well. Since it's named Medium Ash, there's the ashiness while still being a fairly darker brown so it gave me that touch of coolness that I was seeking and not finding in the other dark browns.

Product Description: Box description: "Sometimes brows need a little magic. Long-wearing pencil features an ultra fine, retractable tip to easily fill in gaps and mimic brow hair."Website description: "Ideal for filling in sparse brows with the ultimate natural look, Anastasia's ultra-fine pencil tip mimics the appearance of tiny hairs. The dual ended mechanical pencil and essential spooley brush make creating a fuller brow look not only easy, but convenient too. The mechanical lead saves product and never needs sharpening, and the built-in spooley brush on the opposite end brushes and blends in Brow Wiz to natural brows seamlessly."

Packaging:The pencil is double sided with the mechanical twist up lead on the left side and a stiff spoolie on the right side.

Price: $20.00 for 0.085 grams/0.003 oz. It is misprinted on Sephora where it says it has .08 oz, it should actually be .085 grams.

My Thoughts on the Formula/Wear Time: My brows need just need a bit of filling in with some slight combing for a daily look and the Brow Wiz fits the bill. I got 10+ hours of wear with only a little fading at the tail of my eyebrow and that's on my oily skin so it is longwearing for me. The pencil is slightly waxy so it is firm enough to do light strokes without depositing too much product yet enough to lightly keep brows in place.
If you're someone that needs a waxy formula to keep your brows in place, this isn't it. If you're looking for one that's in Anastasia's range, you may like the Perfect Brow Pencil better. It's a traditional pencil in a wooden shaft and since it's wax based, it's much much firmer than the Brow Wiz.
This makes the claim of being perfect for sparse brows which I agree with but I think there is a bit of a dichotomy because while the tip is extremely fine lending it precision, there isn't as much product in the pencil (compared to traditional pencils). That means you may run through the pencil quickly if you're using it to go from very sparse brows to very full brows. This does make the point that the product never needs sharpening (therefore you never waste any product through that) so you save product that way. If you want a full or dramatic brow, you're much better off using brow powder!

The lead of the twist up is quite fine, maybe half a millimeter in diameter. One of the best things about the mechanical twist up shaft is that it's retractable so you don't have to worry about dispensing it too far and not being able to retract it down. When it twists down, it makes quite the satisfying click noises.

and the accompanying spoolie. The spoolie itself is quite firm and the bristles aren't very fluffy, helping to better comb through your brows and help shape them with the pencil.

This picture is just to show you how slim the pencil is overall. I compared it to a Wet n Wild liner pencil and you can see how the overall diameter of the Anastasia pencil is much smaller.
Here's a gif to show how my brow looks when filled in lightly. The Before is my brow without product, the After is with product. The overall look is subtle but I think it does help to bring my whole face together.

and here's a larger picture of my brows filled in a little more heavily. Left is without product, right is with. This picture is more accurate to the color (you can really see the ashy tones of the color)

Would I purchase again? It is a splurge compared to other brow products but the fact that the colors suits me and the wear time is so great, I think it is one of those products that is worth the splurge and something I'd try to save up for or get during a sale.
When it comes to your brow, are you partial to using pencils or powder?
Disclaimer: I received this product for review. The links in this post are affiliate links that give me a commission based of your use of them. You don't have to if you don't want to! I may have been sent this product but I was not compensated for the review nor was my opinion affected by my being sent it.

7 comments:

I have this pencil and love it. It's perfect for my sparse brows and doesn't make them look too dramatic. I got it in an ULTA kit that made me feel better about the price. I'm afraid that when I run out I won't want to pay the $20. Do you know of any drugstore products similar to this?

Off the top of my head, I know that the Maybelline Define a Brow does have a similar fine tip but they've discontinued so many colors in the product line that I think you'd have a hard time finding a match.

Wow, this looks really good on you! I never thought I needed to do anything to my brows, but once I did I couldn't go back. There's just something about how it makes your whole face look "done." I love it.

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